Today I decided to change up the location of the run. It was also a chance to meet up with some running buddies for a nice night run. I stopped by the North Wales Running Company and went for there Tuesday group run. This run is also the meeting place for the Ambler Area Running Clubs Tuesday run, so there was a pretty good turnout.
The run started out at a nice easy pace and we gradually picked it up. A little before the 2 mile mark Brett, who is still recovering from a sub 3 marathon performance at the Philly marathon, started to drop back. The front group was reduced Derek, Paul, and myself. We continued to push on at a conversation pace. Derek was also starting to build back up, but despite only running about 2 days a week is still in 17:30 5k shape. We luckily made it to the intersection to start the 2nd loop of the run and there was no traffic. There was also a slight downhill so the pace picked up slightly. At the bottom to the hill, my lack of fitness made a not so unexpected returned. I cut back from the conversation and just concentrated of not falling off the pack. I started taking advantage of every tangent I could find. I also quickly filed in the back of the pack when we needed to go single file due to car traffic. After the last part of the run I can legitimately consider an uphill I was just hanging on by a thread.
Luckily we were about less than a mile back from the store and I knew I could at least hold our current pace for the remainder of the run. Unfortunately the pace was starting pick up as the other two could sense the end of the run. The conversations stopped and some real running was beginning. I was able to hang on and I actually felt better than I have in the last couple days. At one point I was actually starting to slightly push the pace. I realized that I had stopped really concentrating on staying with them and pretty much put the run on autopilot. The countless track workouts, 200 repeats, and striders throughout the years were really paying dividends. We ended the slightly longer than 5 mile run in what all of estimate was slightly under 7 minute mile pace. None of us were wearing watches.
After the run it was Two Slice Tuesday, meaning there was pizza and beer in the store. To the shock of many reading this, I did not partake in any pizza or beer. I did stick around for some conversation. Scott and Brett were talking and thought up an awesome idea for an awesome festive running event that I cannot go into more detail as of yet. Don't worry, I will provide a full recap of this event once it has been completed. I'm already starting to feel some soreness, so I'll take it easy tomorrow.
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